Unleashed, Madagascar, Kingdom of Heaven, more...

[Kam]

Ok, so went movie crazy this weekend and caught up on my viewings...

Unleashed: Best movie of the weekend. Really took advantage of Jet Li's strengths. He's chosen faaaar better roles for himself lately, with Hero and now this, he really has gone back to what he does best. This dark character with mystery, he really has this quiet not-so-evil-but-dark quality about him, its what made him the perfect villain in lethal weapon 4. same in unleashed, and especially when he's acting in every scene with bob hoskins and morgan freeman, really helps a lot. the action and fight scenes were really good, and the story and acting were just as good. very enjoyable movie, if it's still playing worth checking out.

Madagascar - heavily slanted towards the kid and new yorkers. i enjoyed the references and digs at jersey, but not sure how much it'll really resonate with anyone else. not much for the big kids in it, although still good fun, it's not like the recent movies of pixar/dreamworks (shrek, finding nemo, shrek 2, incredibles, etc). where this one is defn a kiddie movie, BUT... they do say "shut up" a lot (although that's the most 'foul' the language gets), and, just as an fyi, not sure at what age you want your kids saying shut-up to each other, i know my sister is super paranoid about 'bad language' with my niece and nephew, so... just a thought. but Ali G voicing the king of the lemurs stole the show, along with the penguins. i think these animators love the side characters more than the leads, they ALWAYS steal the show.

Kingdom of Heaven - if you can get through the first 2 hours and 25 minutes of the movie... you'll have seen it. actually does have some very nice sentiments, and Balien (bloom) makes a nice speach before jerusalem exchanges hands (once again) about how the people currently there made no offense against who was attacking them, and the people attacking them were not alive when the original offense was made. aweful lot of boring crap though to get to this point. basically they make the 'badguys' the knights templars, and gibson's william wallace's best buddy from braveheart (rock throwing contest guy) does a great job of playing a horrid jackass here. (side note: Have you noticed the cast of braveheart has since shown up in nearly every single epic/period piece movie made since then?) The only problem with the grand, massive, cartoon-y levels of battles here.... is we saw them already, done on a much more grand, and better scale, in LOTR.

Was talking to a friend of mine about this afterwards, and thought about how the 'wonder' of movies is gone. i never once have thought, 'oh wow, how'd they do that' in watching a movie over the last... 5-6 years. because i know the answer is always "with a computer"
It's not fun to watch in that respect, because you know they didn't hire 200,000 extra's to make up the saracen army, they didnt build 1,000 ships in troy, and they used virtual cameras to compose and move the shots around, and digital cars to fly camera's through. i think the last shot that really got me wondering how they did it, was from Contact, where the young jodie foster character is running to get her dad's heart medicine up the stairs, down the hall, and in to the bathroom, only to have the camera 'come out' from the mirror. was a very cool shot. since then, the answer to 'how'd they do that' has always been, with 1's and 0's.

just the typical kam-rant of the day.

peace
k2

[eisforelectronic]

i think the last shot that really got me wondering how they did it, was from Contact, where the young jodie foster character is running to get her dad's heart medicine up the stairs, down the hall, and in to the bathroom, only to have the camera 'come out' from the mirror. was a very cool shot. since then, the answer to 'how'd they do that' has always been, with 1's and 0's.

just the typical kam-rant of the day.

peace
k2

That shot in "Contact" was really awesome, not only that, but the matched shot coming into the house through the window as well. I recently saw something similar to that mirror shot, but I can't remember what movie it was.

[topspeed]

I enjoyed Madagascar and thought there were quite a few gags aimed for the parents. For example, when the Zebra was strutting down the sidewalk with the Bee Gee's playing in the background; kid's won't get that scene but their parents will. Same thing with the steaks floating down around the Lion (a la rose petals from American Beauty) There were a couple of other things, but you get my drift. It was no Incredibles to be sure, but it was considerably better than Shark Tale.

I'm still trying to find time to see Star Wars III...

[eqm]

I'm still trying to find time to see Star Wars III...

Make sure you take Worf with you. He LOVED that movie.

[20to20K]

I enjoyed Madagascar and thought there were quite a few gags aimed for the parents. For example, when the Zebra was strutting down the sidewalk with the Bee Gee's playing in the background; kid's won't get that scene but their parents will. Same thing with the steaks floating down around the Lion (a la rose petals from American Beauty) There were a couple of other things, but you get my drift. It was no Incredibles to be sure, but it was considerably better than Shark Tale.

I'm still trying to find time to see Star Wars III...

My favorite "for parents only" gag was the Lion crying "darn you all to heck" as he stood in the foreground of a felled Statue of Liberty ala Charlton Heston in "Planets of the Apes".

In my theater there was a noticble adult only roar and if you glanced quickly enough you could catch the befuddled looks on all the kids' faces...

[topspeed]

My favorite "for parents only" gag was the Lion crying "darn you all to heck" as he stood in the foreground of a felled Statue of Liberty ala Charlton Heston in "Planets of the Apes".

In my theater there was a noticble adult only roar and if you glanced quickly enough you could catch the befuddled looks on all the kids' faces...

I completely forgot that scene! You're right, that was one of the best !

[Worf101]

Make sure you take Worf with you. He LOVED that movie.

Philistine!!!!!!!

Mwah ha ha ha ha.

I guess I'm gettin quite "Da Hater" rep round here.... LOL... Okay EQ, I'll lay off dem Wookies, Ewoks and Gun Gun's....

Da Worfster

[eqm]

Philistine!!!!!!!

Mwah ha ha ha ha.

I guess I'm gettin quite "Da Hater" rep round here.... LOL... Okay EQ, I'll lay off dem Wookies, Ewoks and Gun Gun's....

Da Worfster

no problems at all my friend...that's why we live in America (at least most of us!). I personally think most of Star Trek is pretty silly, but I always respect your opinions on movies and tv...i guess that's why i keep coming back here.